Our series of favourite camera guest posts continues with this homage to the Yashica 635 TLR.

This is a Yashica 635 camera, the lens is a Yashikor 80mm f/3.5 in Copal-MXXV shutter with speeds 1-1/500. It really helps me to create an image. The viewfinder is at the top, which allows you to look at the image in a unique way as looking down allows you to look head on. The square format encourages me to frame the images and knowing that the lens will capture what I see is a great guide. It is easy to adjust the aperture and speeds according to the available light. I can also be creative with the aperture with some fantastic results. I can allow less light than I would with 35mm as the frame is larger at 6 x 6. It is possible to take images without advancing the frame. Taking double exposures is easy. Sometimes I make double exposures accidentally - I believe in happy accidents so I am always content with the results. Sometimes there are other irregularities which look great, such as when the film has not wound on properly resulting in the double exposure being at the end of the image or with the light flare when too much light has entered the camera for some unknown reason. These ‘mistakes’ can only happen with film and make it much more interesting to look at. The camera can also be adapted to use 35mm film with a special kit so it is versatile, although I continue to use 120mm film. This summer I will spend a week using 35mm and cant wait to see the results.

This camera has allowed me to ‘construct’ images as it takes time to make photographs. It has forced me to first look around at the image without the camera and to think carefully about what it is I want to capture. I can then think about how I want the light to appear as it is possible to have more control over your images using film and especially with this camera. It has also helped me to gauge the distance I need to be from the subject either to capture the whole scene or just and interesting section. 

This is the only camera which I would take with me to a desert island.

In recent years I've used various Canon DSLRs and it's Canon cameras we have in school. I'm no expert when it comes to cameras so I don't know that much about the various pros and cons of particular models. I've never had the resources to buy Pro equipment so I've made do with more affordable models. To be honest, I'm very much an amateur when it comes to photography.

I have a colleague in school who is something of a camera collector. I suppose it was talking to her about the cameras she owns and uses that inspired me to look on eBay for old film cameras. I'd never owned a Rangefinder and so my first purchase was a 1970s Canonet 28. I enjoyed using it, replaced the light seals and should really have stopped there but I'd seen a couple of other cameras that looked fascinating. One of these was the Yashica Electro 35. After doing a bit of research I decided to bid on a black GTN, one of the later models which has a hot shoe. I was also keen to make sure that the seller provided an alternative battery to the now defunct original. In the end I paid £40 for mine and have been using it regularly ever since.

It's a brilliant street shooter. The f1.7 lens is fast and sharp. It's almost all auto with very little to get in the way. I select an appropriate aperture and set the focus to 10 feet. Most of the time I don't have time to use the big rangefinder window to check the focus. It's simply a matter of judging my distance form  the subject, raising the camera to my eye and clicking the silent shutter, hoping for the best. I love the sense of anticipation, waiting for the prints to be developed, wondering which of the photographs I think I've taken have worked.  For me, there's nothing quite like the thrill of shooting on the street. My favourite photographers are those American heroes of street photography from the seventies: Garry Winogrand and Joel Meyerowitz. As Meyerowitz describes so perfectly:

I'll never be able to afford a Leica M6, or even a Contax G2. I might one day treat myself to a Konika Hexar. Until then my beloved Yashica Electro 35 GTN will always be the camera I reach for when I feel the urge to head out into the crowd.